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Geopolitics

Why Europe Shouldn't Follow Biden's Lead On China

With new targets, the United States is trying to impose more of the same binary thinking that set the Middle East on fire.

U.S. President Biden speaking at the NATO Summit in Brussels on June 14
U.S. President Biden speaking at the NATO Summit in Brussels on June 14
Lucie Robequain

PARIS — The United States has a disturbing tendency to see the world in two colors: black and white. It divides things into good and evil, democracies and dictatorships.

Such was the case yet again during this week's NATO summit in Brussels, with Washington portraying China and Russia as the new evil empires against whom the "good guys' must unite their political, economic and, why not, military forces. Joe Biden went so far as to pressure his allies into including a formal criticism of Beijing in their final communiqué.

One can only be pleased to see him resurrect the "democracy of values' that Donald Trump had so flouted. And it's hard not to agree with his criticism of Chinese hegemony flexed in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the dozens of countries along the so-called "New Silk Road" that have signed commercial agreements with Beijing.

And yet, Joe Biden's crusade is no more altruistic than George Bush's was 20 years ago. It's about defending U.S. economic interests, nothing else — although in this case it's no longer a question of just getting hold of oil, but of preventing China from becoming the world's leading economic power.

Europe has the power to impose a more equitable balance of power with China.

Unfortunately, we know all the damage that this Manichaean approach to the world causes: It was by designating Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil" that the United States set the Middle East on fire, a war whose consequences we are still paying for today.

It is up to Europe, therefore, to remain lucid, as it was at the time, and to keep its independence. This seems all the more necessary as the United States has little regard for its Western allies. The hasty withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, without any consultation, has offended European capitals. The way the U.S. is blocking national gas exchanges between Russia and Europe, with the sole aim of favoring exports, is no more acceptable.

Europe does not have to pay the price of this new cold war between Washington and Beijing. Its commercial and energy dependence on both China and Moscow are too great to give in blindly to American interests. It can even less afford to do so given that Beijing became its number one trading partner last year, ahead of Washington, and is indispensable in the fight against climate change.

Because of the size of its market — 450 million inhabitants — the European Union has the power to impose a more equitable balance of power with China. It's a crucial mission, and one that requires us to reject the new wall that Washington wants to build between us and Beijing.

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FOCUS: Russia-Ukraine War

Nuclear Card And Firing Squads: Lukashenko's Long Game To Retain Power

A few weeks after an explosion at a military field in Belarus, Vladimir Putin announced plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. There is a connection, even if Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko is walking a tight rope of domestic control and keeping Putin satisfied.

Image of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko welcoming Russian President Vladimir Putin in his arms.

Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko welcoming his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at Minsk National Airport.

Igar Ilyash

-Analysis-

Back on the afternoon of February 26, local Belarus media reported explosions at the military airfield in Machulishchy, near Minsk, and increased activity of military services. Soon after, the BYPOL association, created by former security forces to fight the regime of Alexander Lukashenko,, announced that Belarusian partisans had used drones to attack a Russian A-50U long-range radar detection aircraft.

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Neither Minsk nor Moscow acknowledged that such a valuable aircraft had been disabled. However, a few days later, the A-50U left the territory of Belarus for repairs.

The day after the explosions, Lukashenko convened a meeting of the security forces. He looked agitated, demanding "the strictest discipline" and spoke vaguely about some "internal events" and attempts to "stir up" the situation in Belarus. The Belarusian authorities publicly acknowledged the sabotage only on March 7.

That same day, Lukashenko accused the Ukrainian special services of organizing the terrorist attack in Machulishchy. "Well, the challenge has been met," he declared, before quickly clarifying that he did not intend to use the incident to draw Belarus into war. "If you think that throwing this challenge will drag us into a war that is already going on all over Europe, you are mistaken."

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